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  • The empty centre: Power/knowledge, relationships and the myth of ‘student centred teaching’ in teacher education

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    Author(s)
    Geelan, David
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Geelan, David
    Year published
    2001
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    The notion of ‘student centred learning’ is a popular and influential one in education at all levels. Questions of exactly how this may be defined, and what it would look like in practice are, however, much more difficult to address. During second semester 1998, I was involved in teaching a Masters level unit on teacher action research to a group of middle school teachers. I placed a high value on the knowledge, values and experience of these students, and attempted to allow them considerable freedom to construct their own learning activities and assessment procedures. Some students accepted the offered challenges, and after ...
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    The notion of ‘student centred learning’ is a popular and influential one in education at all levels. Questions of exactly how this may be defined, and what it would look like in practice are, however, much more difficult to address. During second semester 1998, I was involved in teaching a Masters level unit on teacher action research to a group of middle school teachers. I placed a high value on the knowledge, values and experience of these students, and attempted to allow them considerable freedom to construct their own learning activities and assessment procedures. Some students accepted the offered challenges, and after some initial disorientation were able to construct powerful and valuable educative programs for themselves. Others, however, felt threatened by the perceived lack of structure and direction in the course, and felt that their time was being wasted. This paper explores my own experiences and ethical/theoretical commitments through discussion of contemporary reflective texts and narratives. It also addresses some of the complex meanings that may be ascribed to the phrase ‘student centred teaching’, and suggests that a teacher’s withdrawal from an intensive, controlling classroom role must be negotiated with students in ways that avoid the creation of an ‘empty centre’.
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    Journal Title
    Australian Journal of Teacher Education
    Volume
    26
    Issue
    2
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2001v26n2.3
    Copyright Statement
    © The Author(s) 2001. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. For information about this journal please refer to the journal’s website or contact the author[s].
    Subject
    Science, Technology and Engineering Curriculum and Pedagogy
    Education
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/65936
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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